Something I Haven't Done In A While

In the past few days I've had someone ask me (several times) 'why aren't you blogging?!' It has been a very busy semester for me. Between work and class I didn't have much free time. Now its summer, so I have no excuse! I'm going to try for daily posts again.

As of yesterday afternoon I am officially a University of Iowa student (again). Last May I was dismissed from the college due to a very poor GPA. I definitely deserved it. My time management was awful. I worked far too many hours and never used a planner so I would often forget about assignments or tests until the morning of. Since then I attended a community college where my GPA was significantly better. Now in the fall I'll be returning to the university to finish my BA in Sociology.

Planning has helped me tremendously this past year

I've learned a lot in the past year. First, I learned to say 'no' to my boss. In years past I would never turn down shifts or opportunities to make more money. I was living in an apartment by myself and therefore needed the cash. Now I have a financial safety net set up, so I'm not afraid to say 'no' to work for a few days or a week. School is far more important than pizza delivery! Second, I've learned how to use a planner. My Moleskine notebook goes everywhere with me. Every single assignment, work shift, and appointment gets written down. The opposite page is blank to allow for notes. I can write down assignment descriptions, to-do lists, and little reminders. It's great!

There is still one thing I might struggle with this semester: math.

Twice now I've taken--and failed--the same Elementary Functions class, which is just a fancy name for Pre-Calc. My advisor at the community college told me it wasn't necessary for a BA in Sociology, so I chose not to retake it there. However, I learned that it is required at the university as a prerequisite for the Sociological research courses. Great!

Courtesy of www.amazon.com, of course

See, I failed Elementary Functions not just because I skipped class. I'm just really, really bad at math. It's never been my forte. I can trace that back to fourth grade when I struggled with fractions. But I must take this class! So what am I going to do? Study, of course!

I ordered a book this morning to review algebra. I'll work through it over the next month or so, and then move on to a trigonometry review book. Also, the University of Iowa has a math lab and tutors. I definitely plan on utilizing those this upcoming semester!